Video Sunday: How to Start a School Year

A show of hands. Who, right now, is weeping a little over the fact that we will never have Mr. Colby Sharp as the 4th grade teacher of our youth? That is, perhaps, the first video I would show to my students if I were teaching a graduate course in children’s librarianship. And everyone should watch it just before the school year starts to get pumped up. Thanks to Gretchen Hardaway for the link.

Book trailer time! So I have some good news, and I have some bad news. Literally.

Fact of the matter is, thanks to Flash animation, book trailer technology just grows more and more accomplished every year. We’re getting to the point where they may as well be little movies in and of themselves. Case in point, The Insomniacs.

And as for this next one, a Grimm story retold as a graphic novel by James Odone . . . WANTWANTWANNAWANNAWANT!

Trouble is, this one’s in the works so we’ve no info on it yet. James, for the record, is the fellow behind the fantastic picture book Honey Badgers (it came out before the YouTube video so no snorts, people) as well as this year’s Mole Had Everything (a natural companion to I.C. Springman’s More, illustrated by Brian Lies.

And for our off-topic video of the day, let’s just think of this one as Make Way for Ducklings 2.0.

Elizabeth Bird is currently New York Public Library's Youth Materials Collections Specialist. She has served on Newbery, written for Horn Book, and has done other lovely little things that she'd love to tell you about but that she's sure you'd find more interesting to hear of in person. Her opinions are her own and do not reflect those of NYPL, SLJ, or any of the other acronyms you might be able to name. Follow her on Twitter: @fuseeight.

Imagine my surprise when I saw my name here, next to Colby Sharp’s awesome video! How exciting! I have started following Mr. Sharp and Mr. Schu, in addition to this blog, 100 Scope Notes, and several others. I would love to start my own eventually. I love having so many resources available! You all inspire and inform librarians daily. Thank you!!!

Wouldn’t you know that today, on our first day of school, one of my parents took a picture of me giving my first lesson to my first graders: “It is my job to teach you to fall in love with books and reading.” I was standing on desks when she took the picture (which she posted to Facebook, tagging me). I come home and I am catching up on blogs and drinking anything as long as it has ice–classrooms today were hellish–and I happen across this post of Colby standing on desks! In my case (and I have a long desk standing history), I have books about climbing and I know that when dealing with first graders, physical trumps mental every day of the week. Love this video because when I closely watch, NOT COLBY, but the students, he sucks them in. They hear what he is saying. Even the most reluctant is drawn in. If I know one thing: Passion is contagious! Thanks!

I am a new graduate student in the field of education and I think that Colby’s enthusiasm is a great asset to motivating his students. Even if you tried, it would be very difficult to ignore what he is saying in the classroom. I think he does a great job at introducing some of the books they will be reading as well as making the point that each book his students will read will change their lives in one way or another. All books should have an impact like that.

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About A Fuse #8 Production

Features everything from librarian previews of upcoming children's books to news, reviews, and videos. If it has something to do with children's literature, it will rate a mention here.

Betsy Bird is the Youth Materials Specialist of New York Public Library. She's reviewed for The New York Times and Kirkus, writes articles for Horn Book and SLJ, and wrote the picture book Giant Dance Party. You can contact her at Fusenumber8@gmail.com or follow her on . . .